Read a full match report of the FA Cup fourth-round replay between Preston
North End and Nottingham Forest at Deepdale on Wednesday Feb 5 2014

This FA Cup tie was not for the weak. In the driving rain across a sodden pitch, there were sliding tackles and muddied kits, some of which were replaced by fresh ones at half-time.

By the end, Nottingham Forest had prevailed. Yet Billy Davies, the Forest manager who took Preston to the Championship play-offs twice during his time at Deepdale, admitted the better team lost.

“This season we’ve dominated matches and not won. Today, it was the opposite,” Davies reasoned.

The fortuitous outcome means Forest travel to Sheffield United for a fifth-round tie the weekend after next. Davies has now lost only once to his former club in 10 matches. Forest are unbeaten in 14. Davies’ injury problems are mounting, however. He confirmed that influential midfielder Henri Lansbury will miss the next three months after fracturing his back against Yeovil. “We may need to use the loan market,” Davies conceded.

Preston manager Simon Grayson described this result as “daylight robbery”, while claiming that his side should have been awarded at least one penalty kick. “If you’re going to lose, you go down fighting and we’ve certainly done that tonight,” he said.

Preston never allowed Forest to settle. The visitors took the lead then spent the rest of the game hanging on before adding a second in injury time.

The hosts were already dominating by the time the opener arrived in the 18th minute when Jamaal Lascelles reacted intelligently to a poorly cleared Djamal Abdoun corner to feed Jamie Mackie who used his momentum to force a left-foot shot that dipped over goalkeeper Declan Rudd.

Preston pushed hard but nothing would fall their way inside the box.

Forest survived a penalty claim when Greg Halford skidded across the floor and used his hand to defend a shot. Lascalles hooked another effort off the line. Then Joe Garner’s hit a post.

“We couldn’t do any more,” Grayson said.

On the break, substitute Darius Henderson masterfully cracked in Forest’s second and with that, they were somehow through.